Rebecca O'Dell proposes Candidate Questionaire
Bob Hurt
Attorney Rebecca O’Dell has drafted a questionnaire for election candidates under Florida law. She refers below to the Public Officer Oath in Article II Section 5 of the Constitution of the State of Florida (CSF). Notice that the oath requires the public officer to support the constitutions and governments of the US and Florida.
No one can live up to such an oath because the government is the enemy of the people any time its officer(s) violate the oath to support the Constitution. The public officer has the obligation to PREVENT the government from abusing the people. The public officer must ENFORCE the rights guarantees and the structure of and restrictions on governments in the constitutions
WE need to change our constitutions to eliminate language like “and government” and to require all public employees from the janitor to the president, governor , justices, and legislators to read, study, understand, and pass a comprehensive exam of their knowledge the constitutions before they can run for office.
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Bob Hurt
2460 Persian Drive #70
Clearwater, FL 33763
+1 (727) 669-5511
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CANDIDATE
QUESTIONNAIRE
Purpose: The purpose of this questionnaire is to identify those candidates who will defend our God-given unalienable rights and who will protect us against an ever-increasingly tyrannical federal government. Every elected official is now on the front lines of our battle to restore and maintain our liberties. This questionnaire can be adapted for any local, state or federal office.
1. Are you aware of the oath of office that you would take if you are elected?
Answer: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, protect and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States and of the State of Florida: that I am duly qualified to hold office under the Constitution of the state; and that I will well and faithfully perform the duties of _________ on which I am now about to enter. So help me God.”
2. What does it mean to you to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and against whom or what are you defending it?
Answer (or some variation thereof): The Constitution is a limit on the federal government. Our federal government has no powers other than those specifically enumerated in our Constitution. Therefore, the Constitution must be protected and defended against acts by the federal government not specifically delegated to it by the Constitution.
3. Are you aware of the few, enumerated powers delegated to Congress under Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution?
Answer: (Hand him or her a pocket copy of the Constitution)
4. Are you committed to protecting St. Petersburg’s residents against any actions taken by Congress outside those few, enumerated powers delegated to it under Article I, Section of the U.S. Constitution?
5. What is the purpose of government according to our Declaration of Independence?
Answer: To secure each person’s God-given unalienable rights.
6. Who or what gives residents their unalienable rights?
Answer: The Creator.
7. Do you know what the unalienable rights are?
Answer: Right to Life, Right to Liberty, Right to Property, Right to Freedom of Conscience, Right to Freedom of Religion, Right to Freedom of Association; Right to Marry, Have Children and Educate those Children According to the Parent’s Choosing, Right to a Trial by Jury, Right to Bear Arms (right to defend one’s inalienable rights by force if necessary); Right to Peaceably Assemble; Right to Freedom of Press; Right to Freedom of Speech; Right to be Free from Unreasonable Search and Seizure.
8. (If the candidate does not know what the unalienable rights endowed to every individual by the Creator): How do you intend to secure every individual’s rights if you do not know what they are?
Answer: (Blank Stare)
9. Are the unalienable rights endowed by the Creator to every individual also guaranteed by our State Constitution?
Answer: Yes. Article I, Declaration of Rights.
10. What are Florida’s children to believe about their God-given inalienable rights if they are being taught the theory of evolution in school?
11. Did you know that Charles Darwin was a theologian, not a scientist?
12. Do you support Florida’s schools teaching theology as science?
13. What form of government does the Constitution of the United States guarantee?
Answer: Republican.
14. Do you know the difference between a democracy and a republic?
Answer: A democracy is rule by a majority. It was described by our founding fathers as a mobocracy, a form of government unable to secure our God-given unalienable rights. A republic is where the people elect representatives to rationally deliberate and to secure the people’s inherent rights. If the representatives fail to perform their duties or displease the people, they can be simply removed from office.
15. Are you prepared, if you are elected, to ensure that the unalienable rights of the people are not trampled by local, state or federal government?
16. Are you committed to appointing a City Attorney, Assistant City Attorneys, City Clerk, City Administrator, Chief of Police and other administrative officers who are committed to protecting St. Petersburg’s residents’ unalienable rights?
17. Are you committed to ensuring that neither the state nor federal government tramples St. Petersburg’s residents unalienable right to bear arms?
18. Are you familiar with the state statute that requires that all Florida schools teach the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and free enterprise according to the original intent of the founding fathers?
19. Will you ensure that St. Petersburg’s schools comply with this state law?
20. How does the American doctrine of the separation of powers operate?
Answer: The legislative branch is the only branch that can make law. The judicial branch is the only branch that can apply the law to individuals’ disputes. The executive branch is the only branch that can enforce law. Our executive officers have just as much of a duty to refuse to enforce an unconstitutional law or order as to enforce a constitutional one.
21. How does the American system of checks and balances operate?
Answer: Every single local, state and federal judicial officer, legislator and executive officer takes an oath to defend the Constitution against intrusion by any other local, state or federal officer, legislator or executive officer or branch of government. We depend upon our constitutional officers at all levels of government to secure our unalienable rights and to prevent tyranny.
22. What is tyranny?
Answer: Tyranny is when a government acts outside its legal bounds. Tyranny is when the People are subjected to the arbitrary and capricious rule of a person or group.
23. What is the rule of law?
Answer: When the acts of government are limited by law.
24. What is the Supreme Law of the Land?
Answer: The Constitution of the United States.
25. Is the Constitution a “living document?”
Answer: Yes. It can be amended to address future concerns. If, however, it is changed or ignored without being lawfully amended, we are no longer under the rule of law but are then subjected to the arbitrary and capricious rule of a person or group – the very definition of tyranny!
26. Do you support the present system of confiscating and selling a person’s homestead to satisfy government-imposed taxes rather than placing a lien on the real property?
27. Do you understand that you will have an obligation as a constitutional officer to protect any and all individual’s right to life, liberty and property against any and all government actions, including court orders or federal mandates if elected?
28. How do you propose that individuals may hold you accountable to your oath of office?
Answer: [look for an answer where we can hold them accountable while they are in office, not by removing them from office]
29. Add for state candidates: Do you support amending the state constitution to allow school districts to be smaller than county-wide?
Bob Hurt
Responding to Teaching Creationism in Schools
Chris:
Oh, my. Judging from your comments below, it seems that Rebecca’s questions have piqued your sensitivity to acknowledging God’s hand in the civilizing of our world from amoebas or whatever into truly sentient beings who can crave to know him. Let’s see what we can do to bring you a little comfort.
Rebecca’s CANDIDATE QUESTIONS (below) do not imply answers, but rather an obligation to consider the issues. You basically attacked her questions about Darwin and teaching Creationism in schools. You claim we should steer clear of imposing fundamentalist Christianity upon school children.
Hmmm. You made some good points. A lot of students might have atheist, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, Animist, or Taoist parents who don’t embrace the monotheism of Christians. Such parents might object to imposing a fundamentalist Christian theory of Creationism upon their children. We should address that, but first, perhaps we should review the major competing monotheistic religions.
Gospel of Jesus:
According to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth in the Bible books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the Gospel adheres in three principles of one’s embrace of Sonship with God:
1. Acceptance of the fact of the sovereignty of God (he is our Heavenly Father, he loves us, and we should love him)
2. Belief in the truth of the brotherhood of man (we should love one another and serve one another unselfishly and lovingly)
3. Faith in the effectiveness of the supreme human desire to be like God, to do the Father’s will (we should bear spiritual fruit).
Pillars of Islam
Note that Sunni Musims adhere to these five, and Shia’s lay claim to 7 more, including Holy Jihad – personal war or rebellion against evil.
1. Shahadah (Profession of Faith – there is one God, Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet),
2. Salah (prayers – 5 times daily, facing the Kaaba in Mecca),
3. Zakah (Giving alms to the poor and needy),
4. Sawm (Fasting during Ramadan – no sex, food, or drink from dawn to dusk for a month) and
5. Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)
Interestingly, Muhammad’s recitals in the Qur’an encouraged Muslims to embrace injeel, the Gospel according to Jesus of Nazareth. Muhammad acknowledged Jesus as a creator, the spiritual offspring of God, a man born of a virgin mother, a healer, a prophet, and the presider over Judgment Day.
Tenets of Judaism
Moses Maimonides, a Spanish Jew who lived in the 12th century, tried to condense the basic beliefs of Judaism into the form of a creed. It is still followed by the traditional forms of Judaism. The creed: “I believe with perfect faith…”
1. that the Creator, blessed be His Name, is the Creator and Guide of everything that has been created; He alone has made, does make, and will make all things.
2. that the Creator, blessed be His Name, is One, and that there is no unity in any manner like unto His, and that He alone is our God, who was, and is, and will be.
3. that the Creator, blessed be His Name, is not a body, and that He is free from all the properties of matter, and that He has not any form whatever.
4. that the Creator, blessed be His Name, is the first and the last.
5. that to the Creator, blessed be His Name, and to Him alone, it is right to pray, and that it is not right to pray to any being besides Him.
6. that all the works of the prophets are true.
7. that the prophecy of Moses, our teacher, peace be unto him, was true, and that he was the chief of the prophets, both of those who preceded and of those who followed him.
8. that the whole Torah, now in our possession, is the same that was given to Moses, our teacher, peace be unto him.
9. that this Torah will not be changed, and that there will never be any other Law from the Creator, blessed be His name.
10. that the Creator, blessed be His name, knows very deed of the children of men, and all their thoughts, as it is said. It is He that fashioned the hearts of them all, that gives heed to all their works.
11. that the Creator, blessed be His Name, rewards those that keep His commandments and punishes those that transgress them.
12. in the coming of the Messiah; and, though he tarry, I will wait daily for his coming.
13. that there will be a revival of the dead at the time when it shall please the Creator, blessed be His name, and exalted be His Fame for ever and ever.
Tenets of Christianity
Christians, actually more the followers of the Apostle Paul rather than of Jesus, believe this:
1. One God exists and he loves us as his Children
2. The Bible is the infallible, inerrant, Holy Word of God, and we should believe everything in it cover to cover
3. Jesus of Nazareth is God’s only begotten perfect son, nearly God’s equal
4. Jesus of Nazareth, as Lord and Savior, died on the cross as a human sacrifice to atone for our sins
5. One must believe the item immediately above. Otherwise, one burns in hell forever after mortal death
The Bible and Its Implications
Christians seem to fear that some secularist school teacher will undo their home and Sunday School teachings from the Bible that God created the heavens and earth in 6 days 6 thousand years ago, and then rested on the 7th day.
Many others see the Holy Bible as a smorgasbord of biased and error-ridden secular history and pagan spiritual fare mixed with ancient concepts of monotheism and human or animal sacrifice for appeasing one or more jealous, vengeance-seeking deities. Thomas Paine did a good job of explaining why in his two-volume The Age of Reason.
Letters and stories by the followers of Jesus of Nazareth appear to have warped his lovely Gospel with pagan traditions of sacrifice to atone for sin, a principle Jesus shunned and never taught. We should remember after all that Jesus drove the sacrificial beasts and associated money changers out of the Temple, forbade sacrificial meat at his last Passover feast, and instituted the bread and wine sacrament to wean the Jews forever off the ritual practice of sacrifice.
Because Jesus had Hebrew ancestry and obeyed most Jewish religious customs, many Christians today consider themselves Jews, even though that lies a furlong from the truth. Christian beliefs lie even closer to Islam. That much becomes clear from reviewing the gospel and comparing it to the five Pillars of Islam and Tenets of Judaism.
What Christians Want Kids to Learn in School
Christians wanted kids to learn in school about the creation as depicted in the bible. They want this because they believe that some other theory will contradict or make into an allegory the Bible’s creation story. They believe that will lead children to disbelieve, or question the authenticity or validity of the entire Bible. This worries Christians terribly because the belief in the tenets of Christianity depends upon the truth content of the Apostle Paul’s teachings about the gospel. He did claim somewhat cheekily (and with no presentation of corroborating credentials), in his letter to the Galatians, status as the only authority on the Gospel. When unprejudiced people of sound mind and decent education successfully challenged the creation story with science, Christians backed off and insisted that the schools teach at least some kind of creation theory, if not their particular brand of the creation theory. Science-minded folks have said “no” to this, but they don’t have a scientific reason for doing so.
Archeology and geology have proven that the age of the earth far exceeds the paltry 6000 years accorded to it by Creationists.
On the other hand, none of the scientists can explain why we should assume that the universe kick-started itself from a gigantic photon field.
Scientists suspect that photons have no mass when at rest. According to some, the “void” from which the universe allegedly sprang consisted of these zero-rest-mass-entities. Proponents of this theory cannot, however, explain what set those photons into motion, or how that managed to evolve the invisible energies, visible objects, and visible symptoms of invisible objects evidenced at night by our starry skies.
What Kids Should Learn in School
For the above reasons, a balance between opposing views seems reasonable. Yes, God created everything, and God did so by using, among other tools, evolution. We presume he created everything because of the patterns revealed in astronomy, microbiology, and subatomic physics. Nothing can otherwise explain the intelligent design evident through those fields of science. And hey, the fact that we can contemplate God’s existence proves his existence like nothing else does.
Hence, Rebecca has rightly evoked the pondering of relevant questions, though perhaps not for the reasons she thought.
And by the way, the fact that Darwin studied theology does not deprive his other studies of their scientific nature.
As for me, I’d teach children that God did create the universe of universes and life, and that he set up a plan by which his imperfect willed creatures can evolve to perfection. He created the process of evolution by which his intentionally incomplete creations can evolve to both completion and perfection. We should consider that design perfect. We should take heart that by following his plan of improving our knowledge, responsibiltiy, and control over the controllable aspects of life and the universe, we become ever more like him, and ever more perfect in the process.
Leave it up to me and I’ll teach kids THAT in school. Hey, Jesus taught the very same principles. Good enough for him. Good enough for me.
And it does not bother me in the least that cynical atheists or agnostics, or polytheists, or philosophers think otherwise. The belief that the human can become more like God through sincere striving inspires children to strive for such an achievement. That provides sufficient reason in and of itself to acknowledge the existence of God in school, both separately and as part of the Creation-Evolution theory. Kids need all the motivation to achieve balance and majesty that we can provide them through formal education.
Wise political candidates will agree with that position.
You agree, don’t you?
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Bob Hurt
2460 Persian Drive #70
Clearwater, FL 33763
+1 (727) 669-5511
Donate to my Law Scholarship fund
Learn civil litigation with Jurisdictionary
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FREE
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Lawmen Archive
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Save Fuel
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From: Chris Fowler
[mailto:sflr...@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 11:19 AM
To: lawmen...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [Lawmen: 3283] Rebecca O'Dell proposes Candidate
Questionaire
The only
issue I have with the questions are questions 10, 11 and 12 and the insistence
that "God" (the Christian god, that Christians claim as being referenced)
gave us all our rights.
They are religious, not secular, and our government, Constitution, Declaration
of Independence and the Amendments to our Constitution (aka bill of rights) are
all supposed to be secular, with no leaning, one
way or the other, towards any single religion; And certainly not
with a leaning toward right wing Christianity, which is bound and determined to
make this nation a Christian theocracy (proven by history to be a tyrannical
form of government and counter to educational and scientific progress).
Exactly what does the author's opposition to science have to do with defending
the rights of people in a secular society since creationism has been both
legally AND scientifically shown to be junk science? (ignoring the fact that
evolution has never claimed to show anything more than how we got from point
"A" to where we are now, biologically) Those 3 questions imply
that the author supports religious (right wing Christian in particular)
influence in government, which is a patent violation of the 1st Amendment.
Christians have their own schools, if they want to teach there kids
creationism, they can send their kids there for indoctrination because
religious indoctrination has no place in the public school system that everyone
pays for through their tax dollars.
Those 3 questions have nothing to do with the issue, but they are worded in
such a way as to indicate that the author has no interest in protecting the
freedom of religion portion of the 1st Amendment, by trying to determine that
the person supports religion as part of our secular education system, which
would violate the rights of those children and parents that are members of
other religious groups by forcing a single religion down their throats.
Just look at how those questions are very specifically
worded.
10. What are Florida’s children to believe about their God-given inalienable rights if they are being taught the theory of evolution in school?
This question is worded specifically to discount science and to emphasize the right wing Christian point of view. A singular point of view from a single religion.
What does God have to do with it? Is it not enough to understand that one has these rights without any religion being involved (particularly when dealing with Atheists or Buddhists, for example)?
If Christians want to claim "God" and Muslims want to claim "Allah" and Atheists want to claim "Human nature", then who cares where the rights come from as long as those rights are enforced and protected?
11. Did you know that Charles Darwin was a theologian, not a scientist?
Again; what does this question have to do with anything that matters on this subject?
Some of our greatest inventions and scientific discoveries came from people not in the scientific community and many theologians broke the mold, set down by the church, to discover the real truth, which, more often than not, contradicted what the church claimed.
Darwin derived his theories from what evidence he saw. It is called scientific process and has been successful since the first cave man began experimenting with herbs as medicines.
If we emphasize the church over science, then we forget history. The church as no record of demonstrated knowledge of real science, depending on parables and myths modified from older Pagan stories to determine what is and is not scientific "fact".
Hate to tell you this, but none of that qualifies as real science. For every scientific claim that the church/religious community has laid claim to, science has shown it to be wrong.
Flat Earth.
Proven wrong by a number of astronomers, explorers, mathematicians, etc.
Sun revolves around the Earth.
Proven wrong by Nicolas Copernicus, who was threatened with death if he published his findings (he waited til he was on his deathbed to have them published)
Evolution.
Demonstrated to be a factual and accurate determination of how life forms became what they are today. (Do not confuse scientific theory with non-scientific hypothesis) Supported by every life science, archeological, anthropological discipline and every historical (real and verifiable history, not the Bible) reference on earth.
Creationism/ID.
Proven by every Earth science, Biological science, geology, physics and Archeological disciplines on the planet to be junk science. (I can send you links to the discussions and evidenciary videos, if you like, but it will be a long list of links)
In science, as long as the evidence supports the theory, it is held as fact.
No matter what, question 11 has no place in this questionairre.
12. Do you support Florida’s schools teaching theology as science?
Now this question could go either way. If the only acceptable answer is "No", then it's okay, but based on the previous questions, that is not likely to be the author's intent.
You cannot maintain a culture of religious freedom if you support teaching any single religion in the public schools.
In contrast to that, I have been through a course on world religions (in Jr. High and in a better school system that you can find in Florida) and that is a clear case of it being alright because it teaches the basics of the world's various religions for purposes of awareness of what is out there as well as how they are similar and how they are alike.
It is up to the individual parents to teach their children their religion, not the public schools.
To disagree with that is to go against the 1st Amendment of the Constitution.
Eliminate those 3 questions
(or, at least #10 and #11) and we have something viable to really work with.
Nowhere in any of our Federal founding documents is the word "God"
mentioned. Our Declaration of Independence even does not mention any
religion's god at all and instead says "...they are endowed by their
creator..." (lower case to indicate no single religion's deities).
The only ones that see the word "creator" and assume that it
means their "God" (and only their god) are the Christians. If
Jefferson had intended to reference only the "Christian God", then he
would have used the word "God". He did not, however, do
that. Probably because he was one of the Unitarians amongst our founding
fathers as well as being a Mason. Masons follow the humanistic
philosophies of the world and practice ritual magic.
No recognition of any single religion by the government. That is
in the constitution, as we all know.
Keep any single religion's influence out of government, out of our laws
and out of the public schools.
Our government must either be all accepting or all rejecting of
religious influence. And so should our public institutes of education.
Now on the answer from question #28: Why not remove them from office?
If they cannot maintain their oath to the Constitution, then how does it
serve the people to allow them to stay in office?
If one cannot maintain their oath office, then they should not be there
in the first place? What is the reasoning for allowing them to stay in
office since they will just get sneakier about violating their oath the next
time, if allowed to stay in office?
Chris
--
Faith is belief in the absence of facts. Blind faith is belief in direct
contradiction of facts.
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